US Govt proposes seven month sentence for LulzSec hacker

Sabu rewarded for turning FBI informant.

Hacktivist group LulzSec leader Hector Xavier "Sabu" Monsegur may receive a sentence of just seven months in prison thanks to his cooperation with US authorities.

Monsegur's cooperation led to some 300 separate hacks being prevented, and also aided the US government in its prosecution of the Silk Road TOR marketplace website, as first reported by Wired's Threat Level.

As such, authorities praised Monsegur's cooperation as "extremely valuable and productive", and requested his sentencing to be delayed for three years as the hacker's involvement with law enforcement was stepped up.

LulzSec was behind some high-profile hacks in 2011, including security firm HB Gary, Fox Television, Sony Pictures, Nintendo and the United States Senate. According to US authorities, the group caused several hundred of millions of dollars in damages with their attacks.

An unemployed father of two, Monsegur was easily persuaded by the authorites in June 2011 to cooperate and finger his fellow hackers.

He also admitted to taking part in denial of service attacks on PayPal, MasterCard and Visa after the companies blocked donation payments to Wikileaks, as well as several other prior criminal activities without being prompted by law enforcement.

Apart from Monsegur, LulzSec was said by US authorities to have had six core members, including Jake "Topiary" Davis, Ryan "Kayla" Ackroyd and Mustafa "Tflow" al-Bassam, all from Britain.

Fifth member, Irishman Darryn "Pwnsauce" Martin, was arrested in 2012. Of the six, only "Avunit" remains unidentified by the authorities.

LulzSec also had affiliated members such as Donncha "palladium" O'Cearrbhail of Ireland and Chicagoan Jeremy "Anarchaos" Hammond.

Hammond, 29, was sentenced to ten years in prison in November 2013 for his role in leaking millions of emails from intelligence firm Stratfor. He had spent a year and a half in solitary confinment prior to the sentencing.

Of the above, Ackroyd received a 30 month prison sentence, Davis two years in a juvenile detention facility, and Al-Bassam 20 months, suspended for two years.

Another LulzSec affiliated hacker, Ryan "ViraL" Clearly, was released last year from prison after being sentenced for possessing indecent images of children.

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